Ebay Has Banned The Sale Of In-game Items

[tansqrx 0]

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2007/01/8731/

If you havenât heard, eBay just announced a new policy that disallows selling virtual game items. The most notorious offender to this new rule was the buying and selling of World of Warcraft (WoW) gold. If you have ever been curious about leveling up then you surly have seen the pages and pages of items on eBay. I just checked back today and there was nothing to be found.

This subject is actually quite dear to my heart because I have been selling online items on eBay for almost a year now. My particular fare was not WoW but another popular online forum site. I now have a lot of merchandise and no where to sell it.

Bottom line is that I just donât know what to think about this. In a way itâs like the music business trying to slap copyright protection on everything. Many consumers get mad at the music companies and find some other way to get music. Will this be the same thing? I think there is a very real market for virtual items and if eBay does not occupy this area then someone else will.

It is also possible that eBay may realize that the demand was greater than anticipated and reverse their decision. At any rate, I will be searching for another place to sell. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

P.S. At the end I just realized that this may be a touchy subject for some. I do not mean to offend anyone over this subject. Some feel that selling items are very wrong and should be stopped by any means. I only want to open a discussion and I hope this does not get nasty.

[toby 0]

Runescape have been doing this themselves for ages, but hopefully eBay will stop all game-monies now.

[Alegis 0]

They were deleting in-game character auctions from WoW anyways. By banning however they've ensured a heavy penalty on those who do try.

It's better to trade on fora anyways for such stuff and not ebay. An example for WoW characters is this one.

[FirefoxRocks 0]

First of all, I SUPPORT this policy. This is because NO ONE should be making money off of in-game items (gold, weapons, etc). If this were to happen, it would be disastrous because it is easy to get in-game items and you could possibly make hundreds or even thousands just by playing games repeatedly.People should not be so desperate to BUY with real money in-game items. This means that people seriously are addicted and need mental help. Read news on forum for people who taken it to the extreme and died of video games.Also, a lot of game sites do BAN selling of in-game items. One for example is Neopets. Selling NeoPoints on eBay or elsewhere is a freezable offence. eBay needs to enforce proper policies to comply with these sites terms and conditions.This policy is excellent! I support it all the way! Go eBay!

[HellFire121 0]

Yes this would be another step closer to stop scammers too, even though ebay has some anti scam stuff things like these can often get through. But also there is quite a few private sites that act as a marketplace for selling these types of things, even trading.So yeah i don't think it will stop it completely but it's a step in the right direction.-HellFire

[t3jem1405241533 0]

I understand this policy and why it has been set into action; however, it is my belief that you should still be able to sell your ingame items for real money. I don't think its smart to buy ingame items with real money; however, I don't oppose it. Someone still worked to get the ingame items and for some its a second source of income. Just because it is a game doesn't mean that the items are worthless, the economy is driven by supply and demand, if someone demands ingame items and is will to buy with real money, its likely someone will supply it, it's a new market now with online games. I definitly do not think Ebay's new policy will help much except maybe discourage a few more people, but there will always be selling of ingame items.

[tansqrx 0]

I think simple free market will win out on this one. If the reports are true and the business is around a billion dollars a year, the demand will not stop just because eBay no longer allows it. This is also to say that there is a real demand and a lot of people are buying virtual property.I am still personally looking for other means to sell my excess virtual goods. I have looked at Amazon, Yahoo!, and even Auction Fire but none seem to fit the bill. If anyone wants to be the next Bill Gates then come up with a way to buy and sell virtual property. I have a very distinct feeling that this issue is not going away and by saying it is like saying the Internet is a fad.

[Netwalker 0]

I think it's a very good thing that they have banned the sale of in-game items. Sometimes they ask a very high amount of (real) money for an in-game item. Appart from that i think it spoils the fun of the game if you can just buy good/powerfull in-game items (weapons, armor, etc.). That way only 'rich' people find the game fun and those that don't have the money for it (or don't want to spend it on that kind of items) wouln't like the game anymore and when that happens less people play a game so the creators of the game won't make as much money as they (sometimes) should. So they stop supporting the game because the can make more money from an other (new) game... old game dies.I've heard something about a guy that lived from that kind of sales... i'd say get a job and trade in-game items for other in-game items that you would like to have ---Maybe this isn't really needed to say... but I don't really like selling in-game items for real money

Edited February 13, 2007 by Netwalker (see edit history)

[tansqrx 0]

Would you consider gaming or cheat guides the same thing? In a very similar logic they also produce gains for the player that is outside the "proper" channels. Everytime I go to my local bookstore, there are more cheat guides than books on world peace.

[Netwalker 0]

in my opinion cheats/cheatguides s*ck too, because when you play the game you will NEVER experience how the real gameplay is or will be. But appart from that it feels really great if you have finished a game without cheats/cheatguides when others need them to finish one of the levels...

[kgd2006 0]

This is very interesting news, this news however can be benifited by some and outrageous to others. I feel that this statement made by ebay will drastically improve the online games of today. Allowing less people to cheat and play the game as its meant to be played. But others that play a online game religously just to make a living will find that this is a outrageous move that will hurt their way of life. Its like basically firing off or laying off workers. But in reality online items shouldnt really be sold online anyway, its illegal in the agreement when you sign up to play a online game. I had a couple friends that would play online games as a job, where they would level and search for the hottest items online and try to sell it to consumers that are too lazy to do it themselves. They also offered leveling services, but now that ebay has put a wall to their plans they are pretty much out of the job, unless they can do trades through other sources via internet like ebay.My personal opinion of the move was a good one, because I used to be a online player of various mmorpgs. And I always found it odd how a lvl 1 character started the game with a lvl 20 item. Or say they was level 1 for a day and some how became lvl 90 the next. Ebays move will probably make the online community and enviroment for gameplay a better place for all that play mmorpgs. And hopefully it will continue to improve, because in reality these online games are just a game so people should just play it casually like one and have fun and should be such in a rush to do something outrageous just to try to be a bully from the start.

[Herbert1405241469 0]

I'm sure the move on ebay's part was smart, just to get it out of all the legal hassles that can come about with buying virtual items and the scams and whatnot that can come up... but overall I think it won't really dampen the amount of items bought with real world money just because people generally find other means. Forums are probably one major way of doing business, though it isn't safe just because you can get scammed doing business directly with another member, and that time you won't have ebay's rules and regulations and fraud protection to help back you up.I think the game companies need to create a sort of market in and of themselves that enables gamers to trade their items with other gamers for money. The time value of money is what they're really trading for. Sure, the items themselves are virtual, but people invest lots of time to gain these items (or even in-game currency), so they indeed have some monetary value. Supply and demand will always apply, whether to real or virtual items, as long as the two people trading both achieve something they desire. One wants the cash for their time and work, and the other wants to get ahead in the game by buying a rare item, or in-game currency.Considering how long it takes to really get a good level in most of these online games, I think it's a big time-saver to buy virtual gear... I mean, you play this online game with no actual ending... and you get tired of it and want to leave... What consolation is it that all your work and time was wasted because you're not allowed to sell your gear and get some sort of reward back for it?The game Project Entropia (which I now believe is called Entropia Universe) lets people deal with real world money, but most of the avenues of activities that are supposed to generate cash usually result in gambles and a loss of money. But the principle is sound. After you gain so many credits, you can cash them in for real world money. I think if more game companies implemented some sort of variation on this system, not only would they make more money, since users would be able to have the choice of putting more money into the game than the typical $9.99-14.99 a month (some entropia members I knew put in thousands of dollars every MONTH! thinking they could get ahead). Then users who want to quit the game would be able to somehow "cash in" their character and get some sort of monetary reward based on how good the skills are, so all that time wasn't wasted and the character isn't left to die in the virtual world with no one to play it.Whew. I hope this is logical enough

[unimatrix 0]

If there is a market, people will create a new service or some way of doing it. At least the Runescape folk were smart enough to charge a fee for it so they take some of the cut.

[sparkx 0]

I don't agree with online item buying. Too easy to get scammed. I would sell stuff for many games that I play and used to play (RuneScape and Navy Field) but I don't find it right allowing people to buy there way to the top of a game. Why would someone actually buy an onine game thing? Maby they don't want to play the game and just want to win it. I don't know what World Of Warcraft is so I have no idea if people actually buy stuff for it. Well I guess if you wanted to make your life easyer you could buy or sell stuff. Maby eBay should alow it? After all it is the buyers risk.Thanks,Sparkx